The use of forklifts and pallets for handling materials is well known. A typical fork-lift is a vehicle having at its front end a mast and hoist structure, at the lower end of which is a fork comprising a pair of horizontal, forwardly extending adjustable tines insertable beneath a load. The hoist is used to raise the load and the fork-lift truck carries the load to an unloading point. The tines can be tilted forward and back and are adjustable in width.
Pallet jacks are similar to fork-lift trucks in that they are used to handle palleted material. However, pallet jacks, which can be manual (i.e., can be raised and lowered using a manually operated hydraulic jack) or electric, are limited in that they are not as powerful as fork-lifts and generally do not have adjustable tines. Moreover, the tines of a pallet jack are generally wider than those of a fork lift to better distribute loads.
Pallets are used for receiving the load initially so as to permit the handling of heavy and bulky loads or to enable the stacking of several articles to comprise the load. Normally the load and pallet are shipped as a unit. A conventional pallet is a wooden structure made up of several parallel, horizontal stringers and several cross boards, all nailed together to form a rectangular element. In two-way pallets, the fork tines enter between the stringers and engage the cross boards from below. In a four-way pallet, the stringers are cut out in two areas each to provide inverted U-shaped openings in what is known as the "four-way" side spaced apart to receive the tines of a fork-lift. A fork-lift may enter selectively, from any of the four sides of the pallet, whereas in the two-way pallet entry can occur from only two opposite sides.
All conventional pallets are not exactly alike, but are dimensioned so as to accommodate most fork-lifts. The fork entry openings are made wide enough to accommodate different tine spacings as well as to enable easy entry without precise maneuvering of the fork-lift. Nevertheless, it is not possible for a pallet jack to unload or load a pallet from the four-way side of a pallet because the inverted U-shaped openings of the pallet are not wide enough to accept the width of a pallet jack fork.
In the past most trailers have been 96" wide. A standard GMA (Grocery Manufacture Association) pallet is 48" deep.times.40" wide. Given these dimensions it was difficult to put two pallets side by side with the 48" side facing the door opening. Therefore, much of the industry had been "pin wheeling" the pallets (turning one the 48" way and the other the 40" way) to fit them into the 96" wide trailer and to load the maximum amount of product into the trailer.
Now the trailer manufacturers are allowed to build the trailers 102" wide. This allows enough room for two 48" wide pallets to fit side by side very comfortably with a conventional fork-lift. By putting the 48" side facing the door and the 40" side of the pallet facing the walls of the trailer it allows the trailer to accept more pallets.
One problem arises when the only type of material handler for loading and unloading in the possession of many businesses is one or more pallet jacks. The present invention overcomes this problem by facilitating the unloading of pallets from the four-way side using only a pallet jack. Its design allows the operator to enter the inverted U-shaped openings of the pallet, raise the engaged side of the pallet a few inches off the ground and slide it out of the trailer.
The present invention also addresses the common problem that arises when the pallets are situated as described above and a fork-lift is available but the fork-lift can not be driven into a trailer, i.e., because of the weight of the fork-lift, or where the degree of angle between the loading dock and trailer is too steep to allow the entry of the entire fork into the two-way side of the pallet. The adapter is lightweight and can be quickly removed from the forks of the pallet jack.
Additionally, due to the increased number of pallets that can be loaded onto a trailer if they are turned with the 48" side facing the door there is considerable savings in transportation costs of all products. Moreover, the present invention eliminates the need for businesses to purchase a fork-lift to solve the problem of loading and unloading pallets from the four-way side.